Final Cut Help - Text in Motion: Adjusting Text
Thursday, May 29, 2008 Filed in: Podcast
Motion Templates in Final Cut Pro
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 Filed in: Weekly Tip
To launch a Motion template in Final Cut Pro you have three options:
- Choose the Effects tab in the Browser > Master Templates.
- Choose the Generators pulldown in the Viewer > Master Templates.
- Choose the
Sequence menu > Add Master Template.
Choose the template that you want and load it into the Viewer. Once the template has been loaded in the Viewer, clicking on the controls tab will let you change various parameters of the template. There is only one catch:
Not every parameter of a template is editable in Final Cut Pro. Text entry, size, tracking and populating drop zones with footage are the only parameters you can adjust inside Final Cut Pro.
If you need to edit a template to, for example, change the text color, or swap out a background, you need to edit the template in Motion. Here’s how.
- Edit the template from the Viewer into your sequence.
- Right-click on the template and notice at the top of the contextual menu you have two options: Open in Editor and Open Copy in Editor. Since the template is a prebuilt one from Apple, you can’t save over it (it’s locked) so you need to choose Open Copy in Editor.
- Make your changes in Motion and save the file. Your changes will update in FCP.
Like this tip? It comes from the book
Final Cut Studio On the Spot from Focal Press.
Final Cut Help - Text in Motion: Creating Text
Thursday, May 22, 2008 Filed in: Podcast
Timecode Burn-in and Encode in One Step
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Filed in: Weekly Tip
Fortunately, a great new feature in Compressor 3 allows you to do this.
- Inside Final Cut Pro select the sequence you want to export.
- Choose File > Export > Using Compressor.
- Inside Compressor select the setting you’d like to apply to the file. With the setting active, select the Inspector window and click the Filters tab.
- Choose Timecode Generator.
- Change the settings for the Timecode Generator as you see fit.
- Apply the setting to the clip in the Batch window.
- Submit the job.
Note: If you’re trying to choose the Timecode Generator for an Apple preset you’ll notice there are no filters in the Filters tab of the Inspector. To be able to add the Timecode Generator to one of the Apple presets, you’ll have to duplicate it first (then it becomes a custom preset).
Like this tip? It comes from the book
Final Cut Studio On the Spot from Focal Press.
Final Cut Help - Custom Presets & Easy Set-Up
Thursday, May 15, 2008 Filed in: Podcast
FCP to YouTube
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Filed in: Weekly Tip
Thanks to Phil
Hodgetts for this guest tip.
What people
tend to forget is that you are sending YouTube a
master for them to compress; therefore, send the
highest quality you can, that fits within their
limitations. YouTube.com is well know for being the
busiest video-sharing site, but unfortunately,
YouTube uses the much older Sorenson Spark codec
for their video encoding. This was the “improved”
video format for Flash 7 but is based on the very
old H.263 video conferencing codec. Even when new,
this was an old, inefficient codec.
Many people send YouTube an already compressed video, and are disappointed when they see the quality that results on YouTube. That’s because most of the information was first thrown away by the encode before upload, so there was little quality left to be encoded to Flash 7.
The goal is to give YouTube a master that they can use for encoding:
Here’s how to pull this off:
Like this tip? It comes from the book
Final Cut Studio On the Spot from Focal Press.
Many people send YouTube an already compressed video, and are disappointed when they see the quality that results on YouTube. That’s because most of the information was first thrown away by the encode before upload, so there was little quality left to be encoded to Flash 7.
The goal is to give YouTube a master that they can use for encoding:
- YouTube has two
limitations: no more than 10 minutes per video
and no larger than 100 MB per video.
• YouTube converts everything that is uploaded to Flash 7 video at 320X240 (although they've started to also do 640X480 in H.264).
• Remember the good old days of VHS distribution? You wouldn’t give the duplicator a VHS copy of the show to duplicate. No, you’d give them the highest quality master you could. Therefore, to get the best quality from YouTube, give them a high quality “master” that is close to 99 MB.
Here’s how to pull this off:
- Use QuickTime
Pro or Final Cut Pro to exports to .mp4 with
H.264 video.
2 Export as MPEG-4 with H.264 and set the size to 320X240. There is no point providing more resolution than YouTube’s finished size. By going direct to that size means that you can devote bandwidth to making that master look great, instead of sending excess size that will be scaled down. The bonus is that you get to control de-interlacing and scaling. - From here on
there are two choices: calculate the maximum data
rate that will keep the file under 99 MB, or use
some general purpose settings.
Like this tip? It comes from the book
Final Cut Studio On the Spot from Focal Press.
Final Cut Help - Formatting Menus & Simulating
Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Filed in: Podcast
NIN – The Times are Changing
Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Filed in: Business
Yesreday they‘ve releases The Slip—a new 10-track album—for free on http://theslip.nin.com/. The record is available in virtually every flavor of DRM-free digital format, all you need to do is give them your email address. The album will eventually be available in traditional formats as well. This move mirrors those of both Radiohead and Prince.
Read More...
New Aperture Book is in My Hands
Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Filed in: Apple | Training
Products
Customize the Default Adjustment Set
Specify exactly which adjustments you want to appear by default in the Adjustments Inspector/HUD. Two new commands — Add to Default Set and Remove from Default Set — are accessible in the Action pop-up menu for each adjustment in order to configure these settings.
Keyboard support in Adjustment Panels
Make precise image adjustments using the arrow keys on your keyboard to drive the various sliders in the Adjustments Inspector/HUD. To activate keyboard control, click once in the numeric field of an adjustment control (such as Exposure). You can then use the arrow keys to increase or decrease values. Hold down the Option key when using the arrow keys for even more precise adjustment. You can use Tab to move to the next adjustment control (and Shift-Tab to move to a previous control).
Read More...
Fly! (Trim on the Fly)
Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Filed in: Weekly Tip
It’s possible to trim on the fly.
This way you can listen for an audio edit or look
for a particular visual cue. Just make sure the
Dynamic trimmimg checkbox is marked.
- Enter Trim Edit mode, and press the space bar to cycle your trim. The sequence will play around your edit point and loop. The pre-roll and post-roll are set in the Editing tab of User Preferences.
- When you reach the desired edit point, press the I key to move your In point.
- Press the up or down arrow to move through the Timeline to your next edit point.
Like this tip? It comes from the book
Final Cut Studio On the Spot from Focal Press.
Adobe TV at NAB 2008 – Production Premium CS3 for Final Cut Pro Editors
Caught
a great presentation from Steve Martin at NAB. It's
all about using Production Premium with other NLEs
like Final Cut Pro. Steve is a popular trainer (in
fact one of Apple's main instructors). This one is
helpful...
If you want more free classes... visit the Adobe TV site.
If you want more free classes... visit the Adobe TV site.